Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

ive been looking to buy a new boat and have seen some great deals on ebay. ive leary of biding on one though because of not being able to see or run it before the purchase. Have any of you had any experince buying a boat off of ebay?

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

A friend of mine bought a Checkmate Convincor 242 w/a 454 and it's been great. A little dirty on the inside but it cleaned up well. I'd say it's hit or miss though. Would be better if they had a video of it running and driving as well as some maintenence records. I personally wouldn't cause of the potential problems. I'd search Craigslist and the trader for something locally. Or find one on Ebay that is close to you so you could check it out.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I presume that's new to you/used boat?
That's how I purchased my current one. Just make sure you email the seller before you bid if he will give you an inspection/test drive contingent to buying. If he say's no....don't bid....If he say's yes, you have it documented thru email if he doesn't go thru with it. Just don't pay him up front. Wait until after your satisfied.
That's what I did and the previous owner had no objections what so ever.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I buy and sell a lot on ebay, but only cheap older boats that I expect to work on. I have only been burned once, but I would only bid on something expensive with enough margin to cover the unexpected. In my one bad case, the engine that reportedly ran great turned out to have a slight knock and needed a rebuild. That is the kind of 'gotcha' that could really cost big bucks. Buyer beware!

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

We bought ours off ebay. Make sure and check out the sellers' feedback. We had an agreement that if the boat wasn't what we wanted after close inspection and getting it out on the water, that we could walk away no questions asked. I think this is important in a sight unseen purchase and I would be leary of any seller that wouldn't agree to it.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I would not. But I am rather conserative. Its your money,but, it is really rolling the dice.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I've bought boats and outboards on ebay. I simply insist on an inspection before bidding. If the seller won't agree, I just don't bid. So far, I've had no surprises.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

In many cases you can inspect before bidding in which case it is just like any other purchase. The other thing is that if you do bid and win, I would be prepared to take cash when I went to get the boat and go before the payment deadline. Then if the boat isn't as described, drive away. What is the worst that can happen? Bad feedback? So what.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

With vehicles, I would only buy items close enough to inspect in person. I once bought a motorcycle on Ebay sight unseen, but I paid in cash when I went to pick it up and was going to walk away if it didn't run or look as described.

Here is a tip, when you do a search you can set the search results to "sort by distance, nearest first" and type in your zip code. You then know exactly how far you will need to travel to take a look.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I bought mine off ebay, 2.5 hours away. I came out FAIRLY ok. I say fairly because the A/C does not cool, and the "refrigerator" is actually just an ICE BOX. Not happy about those two high price things. I'd like to change my feedback, but don't know how. Otherwise it's a solid boat so far.

Inspection was offered but I felt good about the info provided via the listing, email, phone, etc... When I arrived to pick the boat up, I gave it a 1 hour inspection ( not enough ). I felt good about it. The test was when it's time to clean it up, put it on shore power ( he didn't have cables ), and work out the details one can't find on a quick inspection.

If the A/C and fridge were in working order, I would be a HAPPY customer. Unfortunately I'm not sure how to pursue this. I know we exchanged emails confirming the A/C and Fridge were working through ebay, but ebay erases emails after a period of time. I've had the boat only 2 months.

It's hit or miss.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I've been burned 3 times on Ebay, once with a motorcycle starter that I bought and intended to use but it didn't work, another when buying a motorcycle luggage rack that wasn't for my motorcycle after all like it was said to be on the seller's email, and another with selling 2 atv starters (in one lot), the buyer never contacted me and yet I had to pay the fee for selling and unsold item. Don't know if I'm going to deal with selling on Ebay again but I might still buy depending on the situation.

These guys have some great advice so far.

I have bought an outboard motor off of ebay in the past, it wasn't a running motor but the diagnosis of the problem was just as the seller described. I got a deal on the motor, I bought it fixed it up and sold it for a profit locally.

Yes ebay seems to have great deals at times but I would keep a watch out for a similar item that is selling somewhere else or look at the Nada value (if the boat is a newer boat) to see how great of a deal it really is. Craigslist has some deals on there as well, I bought a boat off of there and knew exactly what I was getting into before I even traveled to get it. I'll have it on the water soon .

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

Great topic!

Before I bought my Baja, I found a Sea Ray on eBay that was located 10 minutes from me. The pics on the eBay ad showed a great boat, very shiney and clean. They advertised the boat as clean & ready for fun!

Long story short, we decided to look at it and try to close a deal and end the auction early since we liked what we saw on eBay. We drove to the location of the boat and there was crap everywhere, the boat was full of dust and dead bugs (been stored without a cover in a barn)... and then they told us the boat had not been in the water or started in over 3 years! I was upset because my wife and I really liked the boat in the pictures, but it was a POS in person.

I'd buy off eBay, but not sight unseen.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

i would buy off ebay if the price was right and the seller had a good rateing

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

Not exactly the same but I bought my current and previous car off EBAY one on the east coast and the other on the west while I am in Minnesota, sight unseen. Reason being they were both hard to find models. My current car stuck me with one "gotcha" but I am glad I bought it after three years of no trouble. If I really wanted a certain boat and just could not locate it locally, I would consider it. I say this and I am the most conservative person most will ever meet. Also, beyond all that, new boats are cheaper in the southern states. Ignoring the practical dealer servicing issues, it is less expensive to buy a new ebay boat and ship it here than to buy it here I learned this season.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

Thanks Fellas!!!

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

i have bought and sold an lot of them on ebay. ask the question, then ask it another way, see if the answers match. i've had no problems.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

Like the others said, check it out before you buy or there could be surprises...

I bought my newest project from Ebay, theft recovery boat which had a good going through by some dirtbags. This boat was EXACTLY what I wanted so I emailed the seller several times and asked questions like, is the hull in perfect condition, no cracked welds or scrapes / dents in the hull. Seller replied, nope the hull is in perfect condition.

While inspecting the boat, the guy said "I don't know what happened here" (all innocent like) pointing to a 4" cut in the transom where the thieves tried to cut out the outdrive, needless to say I felt it was misrepresented. I asked what we were going to do about the cut and the guy got all defensive and basically said take it or leave it. Since I had driven unpteen hours to get the thing and the cut could be welded, I sucked it up, chocked it up to experience, and decided to buy it. Then I found out the boat was a year older than what was advertised,,, again the seller didn't think anything about it being misrepresented, but $300 settled the discrepency.

All in all it was a good buy since I've sold off stuff from the boat I don't need and almost have the boat paid off, so it's like a free trailer and hull. Probably going to cost me the same amount to rebuild this 2001 as it was going to cost me to rebuilt my old 1973, so it worked out good in my favor.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I've bought several on eBay, all were project boats and I knew it or assumed it from the start. I got everyone for less than the sum of it's new parts or trailer so there was no way to get hurt.
I've listed and sold 4 on eBay, every sale turned out to be a no show, no pay.
If it's a boat your really after, and not a project, I'd go take a look and a test drive first. I got two that way off ebay after the seller accepted a low ball offer on the spot, but again, they were older project boats.

Its hard to withhold payment on most sales, and most sellers are pretty fed up with bad bidders, so many won't agree to any terms not set forward by ebay.
If the seller won't let you look or test ride or at least test run, walk away and look elsewhere. Boats being what they are, I can't imagine any seller putting any sort of warranty on a used boat other than it's clear and present condition at that time.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

the boat in my avatar i drove to Pensacola Fla. to pick-up, gave the deposit on my AMEX so it could be retracted if need be (MarineMaxx dealer) spoke to sales guy 6 times..drove there inspected it...it was exactly as described...paid in full,away we went..have bought 3 outboards and tons of misc. stuff,i have over 120 buy & sold's on e-bay...never had a problem.

closely examine the sellers Feedback,and unless they have over 30 good sales..dont bother with them.

Re: Would you buy a boat off of ebay?

I bought my boat off of ebay. If you know what your buying and can do an inspection prior to bidding, you can get a pretty good deal. I did not. I bought a 1990 Bayliner. Pic's looked good. It was what I was looking for, except it was about 5 hours from my home and, well I didn't know what to look for. Well when I went to pick it up, the seller started the engine (an i/o 3.0 merc.) with out connecting a water supply! I asked why not, he said "it won't overheat, we won't run it that long". It ran great. I got it home and I proceeded to winterize it (with info I found on this forum). It would not take water, via muffs. I contacted a marine mechanic, he replaced the impeller and found the block was cracked up behind the exaust manifold. I contacted the seller, he offered me $500 back on the $3000 I spent. The point of all this is Ebay does have a buyer protection plan that paid for the installation of a used engine less $100 deductible. You have to prove that you were mislead by the advertisement, and have spent over $2000 but less than $20000. I hope this helps. Most important, don't do what I did, know what your buying. Yea now I have a great running boat but there was a lot of B.S. getting there!